1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related generally to disposable lighters, and more particularly, to overriding the child-resistant mechanism of disposable lighters.
2. Description of Related Art
All disposable and novelty lighters manufactured or imported into the United States after Jul. 12, 1994 are required to be "child-resistant" according to a federal regulation entitled "Safety Standard for Cigarette Lighters" found in 16 C.F.R. .sctn. 1210 (1994). The regulation provides that a lighter is "child-resistant" if at least 85% of the children in test surveys are unable to successfully operate the lighter (16 C.F.R. .sctn. 1210.3(a)). The regulation does not, however, mandate a particular method of compliance. Rather, the regulation simply notes that the child-resistant standard would likely be achieved "by modifying products to incorporate additional-action switches, levers, or buttons" to increase the difficulty of activating the lighter (16 C.F.R. .sctn. 1210.5(c)).
Accordingly, major manufacturers of disposable lighters have complied with this federal standard by providing lighters with locking mechanisms that prevent the depression of the thumb lever that operates the gas-releasing valve until a particular sequence of steps is performed. Mastering the sequence of steps required to disengage the locking mechanism is a challenge to young children, thereby rendering such disposable lighters "child-resistant". Moreover, the locking mechanism automatically re-engages once the thumb lever has been depressed.
The sequence of steps employed by major manufacturers to disengage the locking mechanism varies. For example, the Bic Corporation and the Scripto-Tokai Corporation, which respectively manufacture disposable Bic.RTM. and Scripto.RTM. lighters, employ a tab which must be pushed in and up before a flame may be produced by performing the familiar two-step motion of rotating the sparkwheel and releasing butane by depressing the thumb lever (see, respectively, U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,482 entitled "Selectively Actuatable Lighter" and U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,473 entitled "Gas Lighter with Safety Device"). Cricket U.S.A. and B.V. Poppell Netherlands, which respectively manufacture Cricket.RTM. disposable lighters and Poppell.RTM. disposable lighters, provide a button which must be pushed in before a flame may be produced by pressing down on the ignition lever. In contrast to the above designs which require a button or tab to be pushed in, disposable SAF-T-LOC.TM. lighters manufactured by Calico Brands are provided with a lever which must be moved to the left and up before a flame may be conventionally produced by rotating the sparkwheel and depressing the thumb lever.
While preventing children from operating disposable lighters is certainly worthwhile, the child-resistant features of disposable lighters make the operation of such lighters needlessly inconvenient in circumstances where children are never present, such as certain office settings. Moreover, certain groups of adults having afflictions such as arthritis and vision impairments may be physically unable to activate small buttons, tabs, and levers, but may be fully capable of performing the continuous motion of running their thumbs across the sparkwheel to depress the thumb lever. In such cases as an elderly person living alone and suffering from a debilitating illness such as arthritis, the burdens deriving from the child-resistant features of disposable lighters outweigh the benefits.
Thus, a need exists for a method and apparatus by which the child-resistant locking mechanism on disposable lighters may be temporarily overridden. The method and apparatus must be cost-effective, easily manufactured, non-intrusive, reversible, and adaptable for use with various conventional lighters.